Grounded!
by Spring Zephyr
Summary: Goofy Sendou family fluff, in which Mommy Sendou decides it's safe to start teasing her son and Aichi is gullible.


**I don't own Cardfight! Vanguard, aside from a bunch of cards. My deck's not even complete yet, sob.**

**...If it's not very good, it's because I wrote it in an attempt to pick up my own mood. As much as I love torturing my favorite characters, I simply can't bring myself to write dark stories about Aichi. I've definitely tried though... You get silly family fluff instead, hope you enjoy regardless.**

The sharp, scolding voice of his mother was not the first thing Aichi had been expecting to hear when he stepped inside the house and pulled his shoes off.

"Aichi!"

But there it was, and there his mother appeared in the hallway soon after. She was frowning with her arms crossed stubbornly, a stern look on her face that clearly suggested she was angry with him for something, but Aichi had no idea what that might be.

The boy took an involountary step back as he struggled to think of why she might be mad, and then come up with a reasonable excuse why she shouldn't be. His mother was relentless in her pursuit, and followed him in the step he'd taken.

"Aichi," she repeated crossly, "it's about time you got home!"

"U-um... This is about the same time I always get home?"

Even though it was a fact, now that he spent his time after school at the shop "Card Capitol", Aichi couldn't bring himself to say it with any more assertion. He may have finally found something he was really good at, but he was still a coward. He couldn't work up the nerve to talk back to Kamui or Morikawa, let alone his mother – whom he rarely ever saw angry, by the way.

"...Did I miss something?" he continued meekly, though he couldn't possibly imagine what. He was always expected to celebrate birthdays with his mom and Emi, but the next birthday in the family wasn't for months, and the house wasn't decorated in such a manner regardless. His mother always insisted on decorating, even if it was just for Aichi, who until recently hadn't had any friends who would come to a party for him anyway...

So if it wasn't a birthday, what else could it be? It was possible he'd made a promise to Emi and simply forgotten, but-

"Now that you finally have a hobby I can take away from you, you're grounded for failing the last five years of school!" his mother declared, abruptly breaking off Aichi's train of thought.

And nearly giving her son a heart attack. Aichi had time to let out a shocked, drawn out explanation of, "What!" before noticing how hard his mother was laughing, and then it was his turn to feel a bit cross.

"I'm just kidding," his mother replied cheerfully.

"Th-that wasn't funny, Mom!"

Normally, Aichi wasn't one to snap back, but he'd finally found something he was good at. As lame and melodramatic as it might sound, he _needed_ to keep playing Vanguard; the game had introduced him to happiness, it had given him friends... and he'd grown very attached to his Royal Paladins deck, in the short time he had known them.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It's just that up until now, you haven't really had any hobbies and you never watched much television and you didn't hang out with friends like Emi, so there wasn't much I could do to punish you. You never really did anything before..."

He had a few notebooks full of sketches to prove her otherwise, but that was beside the point. Before Vanguard and making friends at Card Capitol, Aichi hadn't done much of anything, including his homework, besides sleep. But still...

"I know you're kidding, but you didn't have to say it like that," Aichi replied sheepishly. Sometimes he wished the people around him were a little more considerate, then he realized he might have thought too soon as his mother continued:

"But I'm happy you found a new game you like, and I'm happy that you're happy, and I wouldn't want to do anything to take that away from you. Emi's been getting into this game lately too, hasn't she? If it's so much fun, maybe I should try, don't you think?"

His mom had her eyes closed in a peaceful smile, but Aichi still tried to refrain from looking doubtful at the idea of his mom playing Vanguard alongside him. He was still kind of new to this socializing thing, and to having friends, but he was pretty sure having his _mom_ standing next to him playing card games was an experience he didn't want.

"Y-yeah," he replied politely, and very hesitantly. "Um, maybe I could get the manager at Card Capitol to set you up with a deck some time?"

Aichi didn't think she would go through with it. At least, he secretly hoped she wouldn't.

"We'll see," she replied, neither promising nor dissuading.

Convinced that the conversation was done, Aichi quietly stepped past her and started toward the kitchen, where Emi was most likely setting the table and where dinner was waiting. He was about halfway there when he heard his mother calling after him, "But I still want your homework to get done!", and he laughed weakly.

One thing at a time, Mom. For now, it was enough for Aichi that he'd finally managed to make friends, and catch up to the boy he'd idolized during his elementary years. He could work on bringing his Math grade past a D later.


End file.
